Infrastructure boom to be bigger than housing, concrete boss says

Photo: Honeywell

Boral boss Mike Kane says growing infrastructure activity will last at least a decade, and will generate more spending than the housing boom.

Boral announced a 28% rise in underlying profit after tax in FY17 to $343 million this week. An asset impairment for Boral’s bricks business in Western Australia was easily outweighed by a 2% rise in sales revenue to $4.4 billion for the cement and bulk products firm.

And Kane was exceptionally upbeat when considering future demand for construction materials, praising the strength of Australia’s infrastructure pipeline.

Boral is involved in the Sydney Metro project, and is tendering for work for the Melbourne Metro.

“The [FY17] increase in EBIT reflects Boral’s high-performing business in Austrlaia, supplying continued strong east coast residential markets as well as growing infrastructure volumes linked to major public sector sending, where we have a strong market position,” Kane said in an ASX statement.

He was further quoted in the AFR saying, “The infrastructure boom is on us right now”.

Boral paid shareholders a final dividend of 12.0 cents per share, bringing its full year dividend to 24.0 cents, up 7% year-on-year.